By George Willis, New York Post
There was a time when Don King was mostly high hair and hot air. But after listening to the boxing promoters from Top Rank and Golden Boy fuss and feud over Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather in recent months, King has emerged as a breath of fresh air as he drums up support for tonight's world championship triple-header in St. Louis.
HBO will televise two of the title fights from the Scottrade Center. In the main event, Devon Alexander of St. Louis defends his IBF/WBC junior welterweight belts against Ukrainian Andriy Kotelnik. In the other televised bout, IBF light heavyweight champ Tavoris Cloud of Tallahassee, Fla., faces former light heavyweight champion Glen Johnson of Miami. Also on the card, St. Louis native Cory Spinks defends his IBF junior middleweight title against Cornelius "K9" Bundrage.
King hasn't been involved in many high profile bouts recently, as Bob Arum's Top Rank and Oscar De La Hoya's Golden Boy Promotions have shared most of the superstar matchups. But King, who turns 79 this month, has been in rare form while promoting tonight's event, using his tried and true tactics of making everyone from the governor to the custodian feel involved.
Say what you want about King, but his fight cards almost always are loaded with competitive bouts giving boxing fans their money's worth, something that hasn't always been the case in the sport recently.
"We're going to create something provocatively beautiful, a wonderful boxing card from top to bottom," King said. "This is the Show-Me State, and in St. Louis you get the opportunity to do just that, to show it to the world. I'm a promoter of the people for the people and by the people, and my magic lies in my people ties."
It's typical King rhetoric, but welcomed after all the misinformation surrounding the inability to get Mayweather and Pacquiao to agree to a fight. King is doing the most with what he has. Alexander (20-0, 13 KOs) is one of the young stars of a loaded 140-pound division that may need to carry boxing until Mayweather and Pacquiao decide to get in the ring.
Timothy Bradley (26-0, 11 KOs), Amir Khan (23-1, 17 KOs) and Marcos Rene Maidana (28-1, 27 KOs) also hold titles in the division and there is talk of a tournament of sorts to decide the last man standing.
"I know if I take care of [Kotelnik] there will be bigger and bigger opportunities," Alexander said.
Kotelnik (31-3, 13 KOs) is no pushover. He is a former junior welterweight champion, who handed Maidana his only loss by split decision in February 2009. He also won a silver medal for Ukraine in the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
"He's a great fighter and everybody is going to be shocked and amazed by his will," King said of Kotelnik. "He's not coming in to be an accommodation. He's coming into win."
Mayweather spent some time with King a few weeks ago, fueling speculation whether Money May might start doing business with King.
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Congrats to Brooklyn's Maureen Shea for capturing the NABF female featherweight title with a third round TKO over Liliana Martinez last week in Saratoga. ... Getting knocked out in his middleweight title fight against Dmitry Pirog last week might be the best thing to happen to Brooklyn's Danny Jacobs. Being matched with inferior opponents didn't help his development and gave everyone around him a false sense of his readiness for a title shot. A little humbling all around should help Jacobs in the long run. ... UFC 117 tonight is headlined by Anderson Silva defending his middleweight championship against Chael Sonnen from the Oracle Arena in Oakland, Calif.
george.willis@nypost.com
Source: nypost.com
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